The United Nations (UN) recommend an international ban on cargo shipments of rechargeable lithium batteries on passenger airliners. A UN specialist panel report lithium-ion cells can create fires capable of destroying planes.
The International Civilian Aviation Organization's air navigation commission has also proposed that the ban should be lifted if new packaging could be developed that provided an acceptable level of safety. Final approval from the ICAO top-level council is still required though later this month.

Most batteries are transported on cargo ships but about 30% are shipped by air. Tests carried out by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have shown a single damaged or defective battery could experience uncontrolled temperature increases known as thermal runaway. The overheating could spread throughout a shipment.

In FAA tests the overheating batteries have released explosive gases that, when ignited, have blown the doors off cargo containers and hurled boxes of batteries through the air before becoming engulfed in flames.